Regarding the statements of the European Parliament, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In Administrative Case No. eA-2053-789/2024 of 23 July 2024, the Lithuanian Migration Department stated its official position that statements / resolutions of the European Parliament, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs are not relevant sources of information for the Lithuanian Migration Department on the situation in Belarus, because the statements are not transparent, not neutral and contain an assessment of facts rather than the facts themselves.

Therefore, the Lithuanian Migration Department ignores these statements / resolutions and does not take them into account in its assessment of what is happening in Belarus and how dangerous it is for civil activists and journalists who have asked for political asylum in Lithuania to be deported to Belarus.

The Lithuanian Migration Department believes that Belarus is a safe country for Belarusians, and everything that does not coincide with this opinion is diligently ignored.

Here is the exact quote from the document:

‘European Parliament Resolution (2022/2956(RSP)), the statement by the Deputy Foreign Minister Mr Pranckevičius and statements by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights do not constitute State of origin information (i.e. Belarus) within the meaning of the European Union Asylum Agency Guidelines of February 2023, which clearly set out the principles for recognising information in the public domain as State of origin information relevant to a person’s asylum application. It is noted that sources of information on the state of origin must be neutral, transparent, traceable and contain an informative statement, i.e. only a factual statement in a neutral tone and not an assessment of the facts. Resolutions of the European Parliament are policy position papers of the Parliament and not briefing notes, so a resolution cannot be used as information on the State of origin’

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